Restorative Justice Podcast Review

Educational Podcast: Cult of Pedagogy
4/26/18

Link to the podcast: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/restorative-justice-overview/

The listened to podcast called The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast, which touched on what is called "restorative justice." The premise of restorative justice is a different system of justice than the one currently in place. Victor Small Jr. explained it as, "instead of giving you jail time or a fine, we focus on really the harm that was created to the person." The focus of restorative justice is to undo the harm done by the perpetrator towards the victim, as opposed to just punishing them.

Small explained some of the problems of zero tolerance before explaining the value in restorative justice. Suspension was an example he used. He says, "...when you tell a kid, when you send a kid home and you tell the kid that they can’t come to school, what you’re basically communicating to the kid is that we don’t want you around." He says this is harmful to the student, because not only does the student feel rejected, but they will also fall behind in their classes because of their suspension. After all, who would want to give their best effort towards the place that doesn't want you there?

Restorative justice is used to not only figure out why the student is misbehaving, but also teaching the student what they did wrong. Small states, "Your behavior affects people, and so in order to pay it forward or to deal with the consequences of that, you’re going to have to figure out how to make things right."

In order for restorative justice to work, however, you need to create a classroom culture where students respect each other. As Small says, it is a lot easier for students to apologize when they did something wrong if they're all getting along with one another. So the teacher needs to find ways to bring the classroom together as a way of building community.

As a teacher, I believe restorative justice is the right way to handle misbehavior in the classroom. If I send a student to the office, I feel like I would have failed to connect with the student, and our relationship would only get worse. I would like to create an atmosphere in the classroom where everyone respects each other, and are open to understanding why some behavior is not okay. I think a great way to do this is through journal writing. As an English teacher, writing is an important part of the curriculum, and I think a great way to bring students together is having students share what they are writing in their journals. The first thing to do is to create a classroom where students are open to sharing their lives with one another.

I found this podcast to be very informative on dealing with misbehavior problems. The biggest thing I came out of this is to start by creating a classroom culture where the behavior problems are much less likely to occur, and when they do they can be easily defused.

TED Ed: Heroes Journey

I was looking for new resources to increase my cluster of information when I came across the TED Ed videos. These are great short videos to share to a class during class time. They provide information on ancient myths, stories, and on writing and a bunch of other educational videos.

Here's a link to the website: https://ed.ted.com

 As an example, I took a look at the Heroes Journey video by Matthew Winkler. In the video, Winkler explains what the heroes journey is, and how it is relevant in movies and books today.

Here's the source of the video: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-makes-a-hero-matthew-winkler

Lynda

(image by: https://software.sites.unc.edu/lynda/)

Lynda is a website that contain a ton of online courses to add and improve a plethora of skills to your arsenal. I chose to look at this resource for my personal learning network, and I found this website to be quite useful. I really enjoyed looking through all of the courses you can take. I took a leadership course to try it out, and I enjoyed it overall. I like the pdfs of diagrams and info they give you along with the course as well. Lynda was a great way to improve skills, which can prove to be useful for whatever profession you choose to go into.

Here is a link to Lynda: https://www.lynda.com

WeVideo

WeVideo

(image from: http://it.bvsd.org/edtech/Pages/WeVideo.aspx)

Doing the video for my Educational Technology class was a very fun and informative project. I had a great time learning how to create my own video, adding special effects, music, and text to make it a higher quality. I created a video on how George Washington became the first president of the United States. It was interesting to go back back and appreciate how everything worked out perfectly for the U.S. Constitution to be created, and without George Washington, there may never have been a Constitution. WeVideo was very user friendly, and easy to learn. I think WeVideo would be a great tool to use as a project in my classroom.

If interested to learning more about the life of George Washington, this website provides great information on our first president!
http://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/biography/

And here is a link to WeVideo to try it out for yourself: https://www.wevideo.com

WebQuest

WebQuest Project

My group in my Educational Technology class created a WebQuest for our 6th grade students. We decided we would go to Washington D.C. as a way to bring what we are learning in the classroom to life for them. We decided to let the kids plan out our trip by finding sites related to what we are currently learning in class. The WebQuest was a great way of guiding students through the process of planning the trip, as well as letting them know the purpose of the project.

Here is a link to the WebQuest: https://sites.google.com/s/1l4SJDZUmi4zfKsv5-iWVrR4Vtz44138g/edit?authuser=1

Personal Learning Network

My PLN Pre-Map:

Before the course, I didn't know what a Personal Learning Network was, and it didn't extend beyond my family, and my previous jobs and education. I wasn't very active on social media at all. The only form of social media I had was Facebook. So, my pre-map didn't contain a lot of learning networks. Since this course I've added a lot more to my Personal Learning Network, and I believe it will really help expand learning for my classroom and myself.

My 10 New Learning Networks:

1) Twitter

Before this class, I thought Twitter was just another way to connect with your friends, but Twitter is an excellent way of making new connections with teachers and people of other professions. Getting connected outside of Facebook is new for me, but I believe it will prove to be helpful as I start to look to present myself in a more professional light.

2) Pintrest

In this class I learned Pinterest is a great way to find resources online for the classroom. On Pinterest, you can find a lot of people who post great resources and ideas for education and technology.

3) Zoom

After being introduced to Zoom for the first time by my professor, I knew it would be a great tool in my arsenal when I begin my journey as a teacher.  Zoom is an easy-to-use app that allows people to video chat one another anywhere. It is a great way to get students involved when they are unable to come to class, bring other teachers to talk with the students, or to just do a fun activity.

4) Followed on Twitter

After acquiring Twitter, I felt it was important to be constantly updated on what is going on within the education world. In order to do that, staying connected to the US Department of Education is a must. Education Week is a newspaper website about all of the newest ideas, innovations, and concerns in the education field, and it is a great way to find new and inventive ways to teach.

4) Ted Talks

One thing I have noticed a lot during my time at UNI this semester is the use of Ted Talks. I've noticed a lot of teachers use this website as a source of information and to induce innovative thoughts. I feel these talks are great ways to expose my future students new ideas and current events which can help them in writing and critical thinking.

5) Followed on Facebook

I joined an English teaching community on Facebook. As shown in the screenshot, they are other English teachers who share their own personal experiences teaching, and there are over 90,000 members all over the world. This will be a great way to get connected to all kinds of people.

6) Followed a Blog

Alex Quigley is an English Teach who created the blog "Hunting Education", which is a great source of information on teaching strategies, and course material. Adding Quigley to my personal learning network will help keep my teaching from growing stale.

7) Followed on Pinterest

When I got Pinterest, the first thing I followed was the education topic. More specifically, I followed the Language Arts portion of the education topic, which is filled with resources, assignments, and posters to help English teachers. This is a great tool to enhance my classroom when I'm off on my own.

8) Lynda

I took a look at the suggestions on the INSTTECH elearning page, and I found Lynda, which I thought was really cool. It's a online collection of courses you can take to improve your skills, whether that be time management, or photoshop, or something else. I choose to do a leadership course, because it connected well with being a teacher, and it is an overall a good skill to have.

9) NCTE

This semester I decided to become a member of the National Council of Teachers of English, which is a great resource as a teacher, because there are plenty of academic journals and recommended books that I have subscribed to. Unfortunately I have yet to get the membership card for the subscription, but the choice of joining has also given a sense of professionalism to my future job.

10) Talks with Teachers Podcast

Talks with Teachers is a podcast hosted by Brian Sztabnik, a high school English teacher who gives great tips about how to improve your classroom. He also brings in guests from teachers all over the country to tell their stories and give teaching advice. The one in the screenshot is when he brought in Shanna Peeples as a guest to give her story and inspiration for aspiring teachers.

My PLN Post- Map:

I learned a lot through this course, and gained a lot of new outlets to learn from and to communicate through. There are so many tools, platforms, and other networks to explore and learn from. And through my new personal learning networks, my students will be able to expand their own. Which is an exciting thought.